Can the fixture list have a bearing on who will win the 2011/2012 Premier League?

Chelsea will be looking to bounce back from their disappointing last season; the new manager at the helms’ first league game in charge will be a challenging trip to Stoke City. The Blues however will not be too disappointed with the following home games against West Brom and new boys Norwich City. The coaching team will clearly be looking to set straight the disastrous winter the club had last term, when their season capitulated in a tangle of injuries, backroom debacle and poor performances. The Christmas period sees them face Wigan and Tottenham on the road followed by Fulham and Aston Villa at home.

However, the Christmas fixture list didn’t seem spectacularly difficult last year, so it’s hard to predict what Chelsea will bring to the table this year. The back end of the season seems a tough one for Chelsea, with some tough games facing them in any nail biting title chase they may be involved in. Difficult away games at rivals’ Arsenal and Liverpool would not be welcomed if the title chases goes down to the wire. It’s hard to predict how the fixtures will go with a team who last year won games they were expected to lose and visa versa, so anything could happen with Chelsea this year.

Arsenal will find it difficult replicating the solid start they had last season with matches against Liverpool and Manchester United in their first 3 games, aswell as an opening day trip to St. James Park, where they suffered at the hands of that infamous Newcastle fight back last season. The young Gunners’ squad will not want to see the pressure of being top dogs’ build up like last season, meaning the fixture list may have been kinder to them this term with Christmas fixtures against Manchester City, Aston Villa, Wolves and QPR.

Arsene Wenger will look to target this stage of the season to consolidate any good start they may have had and keep his players minds focused on the road ahead. Crunch match at Stamford Bridge against Chelsea aside, the home stretch of fixtures may also favour Arsenal, where they will face Wolves, Wigan, Stoke, Norwich and West Brom. The Gunners did however seem capable of beating and losing to anyone in equal measure last term so they will not be taking any perceived ‘easy’ games for granted.

If Liverpool are to defy many pundits and mount a title challenge in 2011/2012, they’re going to clearly have to start better than last season, Kenny Dalglish will not want to see the Reds sitting bottom of the Premier League in September, the scenario Roy Hodgson found himself in. Dalglish faces a sturdy challenge with a tough and relentless start with 20 million pound man Jordan Henderson’s immediate return to Sunderland followed by Arsenal and Tottenham in September and then fierce rivalry battles with Everton and Manchester United in October.

Their final run in of games sees them face Chelsea at Anfield, potentially a huge game, aswell as West Brom and Swansea at home. If Liverpool were to show the same passion and consistency they did when Dalglish took over, no team will wish to face them and they could be right up there at the end of the season.

The recent flurry of transfer activity has only added to the intrigue of the fixtures being released and with no senior international competitions to look forward, everyone is looking forward to the new Premier league season and it promises to be just as unpredictable and erratic as the last.

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